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Filip Zadina latest Halifax Mooseheads star expected to be called early at NHL draft

By Jonathan BrigginsFor StarMetro Halifax

Wed., June 20, 2018

HALIFAX—Filip Zadina has his outfit for Friday night all picked out — a sharp blue suit with brown shoes.

That’s when the star forward of the Halifax Mooseheads will walk onto the 2018 NHL entry draft stage in Dallas, Texas, adding to his wardrobe a hat and jersey from the team with which he will start his professional career.

The best of Filip Zadina, one of the most promising Czech prospects in many years. Zadina had a brilliant season with Halifax Mooseheads, scoring 82 (44+38) points in 57 games. Zadina, native of Pardubice, also put up a stellar performance at the 2018 WJC. Projected top 5 pick.

And expect it to happen early. Like many Mooseheads before him in recent NHL drafts, the 18-year-old is expected to be picked as high as third overall.

"I'm just going there to enjoy the time there ... I don't want to be focused on what place I will be drafted,” Zadina said during a phone interview this week. He was spending some time with friends and family in his hometown of Pardubice, Czech Republic before returning to North America for the draft.

Zadina is expected to continue the trend of Mooseheads being selected in the first round of the NHL draft. In the last five drafts, five of the team’s players were picked in the opening round.

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Over those five drafts, a total of 16 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League players were selected in the first round. All five of the Mooseheads players selected were picked ninth overall or better. The only non-Mooseheads player to make the top 10 during that time was Pierre-Luc Dubois, then of the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.

Zadina is coming off a big 57-game season, leading all rookie scoring categories during the year with 44 goals, 38 assists and 82 points.

That led to him being named to the league’s all-star team. He won the Mike Bossy Trophy, which is awarded to the top professional prospect in the QMJHL.

In the middle of the season, he helped lead the Czech Republic’s World Junior team to a fourth-place finish with seven goals in seven games.

His first year of junior hockey may also be his last, as he looks to follow in the footsteps of Nico Hischier, the Swiss centre who played in Halifax for one season before jumping to the NHL with the New Jersey Devils. He was the first overall selection in the 2017 draft.

Filip Zadina is one of three players from the Halifax Mooseheads who stand a good chance of being picked in the first round of the NHL draft this weeekend. (Nick Hubley / For StarMetro Halifax)

Mooseheads alumni and current New Jersey Devils center Nico Hischier was drafted to the NHL last year. (Rick Madonik / Toronto Star)

Filip Zadina of the Czech Republic played a starring role at the IIHF World Junior Championships in Buffalo, N.Y., this winter. (Nicholas T. LoVerde / Getty)

"I went to Halifax because I know it's a pretty good organization. They helped Nico, Timo (Meier) and these players move to NHL so quickly. I was trying to follow in Nico's footsteps, because he's a really good player and he went through Halifax,” Zadina said.

The success of past players going through the Mooseheads program helps the team recruit draft picks and convince them to play with the team instead of going the American college hockey route or playing in Europe. All the players that went on to be first-round NHL draft picks were highly-touted prospects to begin with.

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The team used high draft picks in the QMJHL and Canadian Hockey League import drafts or make blockbuster trades to bring in Nathan MacKinnon (1st, 2013), Jonathan Drouin (3rd, 2013), Nikolaj Ehlers (9th, 2014), Meier (9th, 2015) and Hischier (1st, 2017).

“We've been fortunate to have good picks, and we've got a lot of people who work very hard at recruiting and scouting and selling our program,” said Mooseheads general manager Cam Russell, who was responsible for drafting and trading for all the eventual first-round picks.

The Mooseheads have a network of scouts in North America but rely on a scout from outside the franchise for European scouting. Russell also makes trips to Europe to scout players himself. He’ll be in attendance at the draft in Dallas mostly to watch his players get drafted, but also to meet with agents and work on the CHL import draft that takes place shortly after the NHL draft.

“A big part of it is proving to these kids that this is the best place for them to develop and move to the NHL. And I think when you look at these top-tier players, that's what they're all looking for. They're looking for the best place to improve and get ready to play at the highest level."

Russell said it’s like a snowball effect, where the team’s track record over the last seven or eight years factors into what Halifax can offer incoming players, pointing out the quality of coaching staff and the teammates the players get to practice against on a regular basis.

Additionally, he says former players become like ambassadors for the team. Russell pointed to the example of Hischier asking fellow Swiss player Timo Meier about playing for Halifax. A year later, it was Zadina looking at what Hischier did.

Halifax took Zadina 11th overall in the 2017 CHL import draft, a year after the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League selected him sixth overall. But Zadina decided to remain home in the Czech league for another season.

Of all the imports Halifax has brought in recently, Zadina “took the least amount of time to adapt to the North American game,” Russell said. “Right from the start, he looked comfortable ... He comes to the rink every day to compete and learn and get better. He ... was fun to watch because he played with enthusiasm and passion.”

Zadina’s enthusiasm was apparent throughout the season. In particular, he said he was thrilled to get the first standing ovation of his career in his first game on home ice after the world junior tournament in January.

"It's really easy (to have a positive attitude) because I love to play hockey. I mean, I was made for hockey. If I'm playing hockey and I'm around the hockey (community), I feel good,” said Zadina.

Three of his teammates are also expected to be drafted over the weekend. Defenceman Jared McIsaac is ranked 13th in NHL Central Scouting’s rankings of North American players. Centre Benoit-Olivier Groulx is ranked 20th and could also go in the first round or early in the second.

Goalie Alex Gravel is the 3rd-best ranked North American goalie but is unlikely to go in the first round, according to mock drafts by hockey insiders.

"It was a pleasure to play with them because they're special players. And for sure, hopefully they will (be drafted) in the first round because they deserve it, they had a good season,” Zadina said of the other highly-ranked prospects.

In the past, the Mooseheads have had two players drafted to the NHL in the first round in the same year — in 2013 and 2007. But they have never had three.

McIsaac, Groulx and Gravel should all be back in Moose Country next season as the team hosts the Memorial Cup, the top prize in junior hockey. Zadina’s future is uncertain, but that’s part of the gamble teams make by bringing in elite talents from Europe that could make it to the NHL after a short junior career.

“At the end of the day ... we're trying to develop these kids and then get them on to the next level. As much as we'd love to see them here (in Halifax) forever, it's also beneficial for our organization to help these kids move on,” Russell said.

Zadina’s goal is to play in the NHL next season. He’s putting in the work already, training with a conditioning coach in the off-season as he looks to make the leap. Last year, six first-round picks started the year in the NHL, but only Hischier and Nolan Patrick of the Philadelphia Flyers stayed all season.

"For my summer, it's a goal to be better for upcoming season. I just want to be ready, ready to go and ready to play in the show,” Zadina said.

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